7 years ago. . .

. . .my youngest child was an infant. I feel like an old person when I hear myself saying things like "Time goes by faster the older we get"--but man, it is SO TRUE. I've got a few pictures of Abby as a youngin', but first take a gander at this lego star destroyer Tommy and his friend, Grant, put together! There's 1300+ pieces of legos in it!

Here is a picture (of a picture) of Tom and Eric holding Abby the day after she came home from the hospital!! Tom was 3 and a half, Eric was just over 2.
I took this picture of a scrapbook page that shows Abby at two week old. (Wow, my scrap-style has EVOLVED; for the better :) I remember her being so small and skinny, reclining in her bouncy chair. Her big eyes followed her brothers' paths as they ran past her and back through the room again, playing.
My brother's fiancee worked at The Picture People and took this shot of Abby for her 9 month picture! She's wearing her easter outfit. I love this picture. (Thanks, Jen!!)
And now here is my 7 year old from a few weeks ago. She is SO helpful, kind, loving, giving. She's VERY creative (loves crafting and artwork) and just 15 minutes ago I heard her singing along with the radio to Nickelback's "Savin me"!
Ok, I'm off to my scrapdesk. I'll post the work I get done later!

"Come, my children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Psalm 34:11

Busy monday

Laundry, dr.'s appointment, balancing the checkbook, writting out bills, making phone calls, planning dinner---ugh, what a busy day!

So tomorrow I have to go to the hospital and get a holtor monitor put on my chest for 48 hours. I've been having heart palpatations for a few weeks, the last 7 days being very intense and frequent. It doesn't hurt at all, just takes my breath away a little. My dr. listened to my heartbeat this morning, and although no palpatations happened (of course), she said she can hear extra heartbeats. (That's just becuase I have so much love to give! HA!) So tomorrow at 8am I'll have a monitor put on, and later in the week I have to go in for a fasting blood test to check all kinds of things.

I thought I'd put up this picture of Ken and his brother, Ryan from the last party we were at. (Ken is on the right.) They are very close, as my brother and I are, also. (That sentence seems grammerly wrong. So does the word grammerly. I need more starbucks.)





Another card I threw together! Wait, did I post this one already?? OMG I think I did. What a dufus. Maybe I need my brain monitored.

Hope you're better off than I am today!

Don't magnify your problem--magnify your GOD.

End of July happenings. . .

WOW--this month has flown by! I know I haven't posted much art work. Please stick with me--more is definitly on it's way! We've just been so busy. My daughter was with her cousin for a week, and my boys went to a safari club at the zoo every afternoon for three hours. It's a very nice zoo--

We got two new kitties!! They're both primarily dark, but they're only 7 weeks old and they're changing every day. They're very affectionate and we love them! The kids have decided we're calling them cupcake and cookie! (Hey, I have some cute stamps with cupcakes and cookies. . .)

Ooo, look! Some artwork!! Imagine that. . .

This is a stampingbella image. .. although right now the title escapes me. The paper, ink and markers are all ctmh, the buttons are from hobby lobby.

I'll be back this week with artwork for sure!

Inbetween mounds of laundry. . .

. . .I'm trying to get some work done. But today I'm going to IGNORE the laundry, WORK OUT, and then get to my scrap desk. Actually, the laundry I'm ignoring is clean, it just needs to be folded. So I don't feel so bad just leaving it for another day. I will, however, feel quite guilty if I don't get my workout in, so I'm off to do that right now. The rest of the day will be spent working on "k"s Disney album. Maybe I can get it done by the end of the week.

The kids are coming back today......

My kids have been enjoying themselves on vacation all week with my in-laws. (I've been quite relaxed as well!) I'm going to pick them up today.

But not without working out first! I did a Kathy Smith weight lifting dvd and it ROCKED! I feel STRONG and amazing!! I've been eating SMALLER portions and I've been bypassing ALL WHITE SUGAR AND FLOUR. . .and guess what. .. I haven't been as hungry!! It's extraordinary. Just do the right thing, and great things follow. I feel WONDERFUL. I'd like to say THANK YOU so much to Cassandra, Brian and Steve for all of your help and support. Please don't go anywhere, I'll be needing you everyday, I'm sure.

Sorry for the lack of art this week. :( I don't know if I'll be able to get anything done once I get back with the kids, and tomorrow we're headed out to Beth and John's for a KICKIN party. . .so, once I can get more artwork done, I'll post it right away! :-D

Have a great weekend!! xoxox

"Look, I make all things new" Rev 21:5

Pushin' on and getting there!!

Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say that I am working out and I am shrinking!! Imagine that---work out and eat right and your body RESPONDS! It's a fabulous thing!! I have a grand total of 130 pounds that I want to lose. Naturally, I need to cut that into smaller goals. My first goal is 10 pounds by my birthday, which is in 35 days. I am soooo going to do it. I'd raise my goal to 15 pounds, but I read somewhere that if you set very attainable goals and then reach them, your brain counts it as a success. Alternatively, if you set a goal and JUST MISS it, your brain counts it as a failure. So if I set a goal of 15 and lose only 14, my brain will still see it as a failure, and I'll feel 'not good enough'. So, TEN POUNDS it is!!! (Of course, I'm not-so-secretly thinking it'll be more. I guess I shouldn't do that. It defeats the concept I just described.)

On to my day! I worked out after a healthy breakfast, started laundry, straightened, vacuumed and now I need to shower, have lunch and get to work at my desk!!! Check in later :-D

Vacation: Day one

Here are some pictures from Abby's cake and gift from my parents!






Here is a card made with new stamps! The first one is called cupcakeabella. I used CTMH paper, ink and markers. The sentiment is also from stampingbella.

This card is made with stamps from MFT (My Favorite Things). How cute! I can't wait to make more cards with it--the set is full of coffee and tea fun!!

The paper is Creative Memories, and the flowers are from QVC.

The kids are on vacation this week, and Ken is at work until thursday evening. I spent the whole day chillaxin, and think I'll go out and tend to my flowers now! I need to get to work, too. . .

Be back later! Look out for that hot weather that is coming our way. . .

Sugar High

My daughter's 7th birthday is this saturday, and my parents stopped by today with a birthday cake for her. That was 9 hours ago. I just 'sneaked' another BIG piece of that cake. I didn't cut the piece for myself, no, I'd rather just take a fork and have 'just one bite' out of the pan. Well, then I had to nibble along that entire side of the cake, to even out the bite I took. Then I took ANOTHER bite. Ooo, have to keep the side of the cake straight, so let me just continue along. munch, munch munch. Now I have a super sugar headache. Dummy.

Before that, though, I had a great day! I worked out this morning and I really pushed myself. I worked out yesterday as well. Tomorrow I plan on continuing the work out streak, espically now that I have too much sugar pulsing throughout my body.

As for crafting, I've really been off the wagon. With the kids home, it really is hard. They'll be on vacation for a week, though, so I will have time to catch up. I will be working on my client's albums every day, but I'll allow myself time to make one card each day!!! I promise I'll have lots of art work to post next week. :)

What's the rule---stop eating 2 hours before you go to bed? Now I have to stay up another 2 hours. (Like that's really a problem for me.)

A slice of summer

It's a hot one today! I'm glad to be in the house with the air conditioning cranked! This card seems fitting for a hot July day----a sweet slice of juicy watermelon! Click on the image for a bigger shot, and maybe you can see the liquid glass I added to the seeds and the sparkle I added to the rind. I made this card for my neighbor after she saved the day with 2 cups of flour for the banana bread I started making before being sure I had all the ingredients I needed! (Mom's always right. Check first.) So thank you, Natalie!!!


Paper, sassy strand, spiral clip, watermelon image and liquid glass all by ctmh.
Sentiment by My Favorite Things Stamps
Sparkle by Stickles; euciliptis

I'd love nothing better than to sit and make more cards, but I have work to do. And laundry.

Food choices today have not only been great, the portions have been perfect! Makes up for the lack of exersice today. *roll my eyes*.

Catchin' up on some art---

I like this image, but I believe the colors are too dark. I'll have to try this one again, with lighter colors. It's a fellabella, though, so I tended to think that dark colors work better on a man. Hm. I'll have to try a few things. ;)



Stamp image--professafella, sentiment from ctmh.
Paper, ink, brads, markers -- ctmh


I had a hard time getting a good shot of my finished scrap pages. The glare was unavoidable. Anyway, here are a few typical layouts I do for my albums.


I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a nice weekend; got a few things done, but relaxed alot. I also had lunch with a good friend, saw another friend, and spent time on the phone with another. Great weekend!

Keep up, girl!

Man, I have been AWFUL with posting! For shame, for shame! I am so sorry! I have a million excuses so I won't even bother :-P

I've been making very good food choices and I've been walking at least 3 times a week, so I feel really great about that! I've been afraid to get on the scale, so I'll wait another week. After another 7 days of eating good (and not eating at night) and walking/lifting weights, I'm bound to see some good news. (NOT that I need to turn to the scale for validation, right? yeah, right.)

As for the art aspect, I scrapbooked about 15 pages in my family album this past week/weekend :) It feels very good to be catching up with my photos, but I'm not THRILLED with all of the pages, so I'll go through them tonight and see which ones I want to post! (hee hee!) And no, I haven't gotten to work on 'work' at all yet. (Such a downfall with working at home. I blow it off tooooo much.) I took the kids to the waterpark today, and now I'm catching up on laundry.

For one week in july all three of my kids will be gone (with their grandparents). I'm sorry to say it, but I am looking forward to the PEACE AND QUIET. I'll work for at LEAST three of those days, I swear. I may be gone over night one of those days. (You know what I'm talkin' 'bout, steve!) Ooo, that didn't come out right! It's not what it sounds like! LOL! My husband knows about my plans and has no problems with it! LOL!! ANyway, for the week after that, I'll only have two of the three kids back, as my daughter will be spending the week with my sister in law. So, july should be pretty laid back for me ;-)

Ok, I'm off to make a card! I'll post the card AND some lay outs tonight, I PROMISE!!! xoxoxo

"What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you" --Oprah